Combination garment



Jan. 20, 1970 M. c. STORY COMBINATION GARMENT I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 2, 1967 INVENTOR. MALCOLM 6; STORY Jan. 20, 1970 M. 0. STORY COMBINATION GARMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 2, 1967 INVENTOR. MALCOLM C. STORY United States Patent US. Cl. 128-454 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A womans garment to enhance the bosom portion including a brassiere for use as the entire upper garment as in a bathing suit and also useful with a complete dress, the brassiere having transparent cup portions to control the bosom shape.

The brassiere is adapted for securement directly to the outer dress garment with the outer dress garment having an opening through which the brassiere is visible and which outer garment opening can be closed with any one of a plurality of especially designed bosom portions making use of suitable fasteners including slide fasteners and snap fasteners, thereby providing a complete wardrobe from a bathing suit to a formal garment with varying degrees of formality therebetween.

The present invention relates to womens garments and particularly to garments covering the bosom portion to bring out the natural beauty thereof.

Heretofore, womens garments have been of conventional design with changes made by varying the length of the skirt, the brevity of the garment with various fashions dictating the extent of covering and revealment. In some societies there is an absence of covering from the waist up and in others complete covering is required, including covering of the face.

An object of the present invention is to provide a complete Wardrobe with a minimum of article and minimum of total length and provide dress for all occasions.

Another object is to provide a brassiere structure which can be worn as the entire outer garment or may be used in combination with another outer garment.v

A further object is to provide a dress of general utility which is also suitable for nursing mothers.

Other and further objects will be apparent as the description proceeds and upon reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an illustration of the brassiere of the present invention as part of a two-piece bathing suit;

FIGURE 2 is an illustration of the brassiere showing the slide fastener strips at the top and bottom extending horizontally for attachment to a dress;

FIGURE 3 is a front view of the dress upper portion completely assembled for formal wear;

FIGURE 4 is a front view of the dress with the dress bosom covering removed;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on line 5-5 of FIGURE 3 showing the detailed construction of the brassiere and the attachment of the parts to the dress;

FIGURE 5A is a fragmentary section taken along broken line 5A5A of FIGURE 4 illustrating the web reinforcing structure around the opening and the snap fasteners holding a bosom covering panel in place;

FIGURE 6 is a front view of a substitute bosom covering panel for the dress; and

FIGURE 6A is a fragmentary end elevation showing the sewed gusset at one end of the bosom covering panel.

Briefly, the Wardrobe includes a brassiere having the usual fastening at the back with shoulder straps and breast-receiving cups of substantially transparent mate- 3,490,459 Patented Jan. 20, 1970 rial with some translucency, frosting or floral design or the like covering the portion of the cup immediately adjacent the nipple and pants to cover the crotch portion to provide a bathing suit. The brassiere is also provided with a strap extending across the top of the cups and a slide fastener extending at the bottom edge of the cups for attachment to corresponding slide fasteners in the bosom portion of the dress.

The dress is provided with an opening in the bosom portion which is closed by a bosom covering panel which may be made of similar or contrasting material and such panel is secured to the dress and to the brassiere by suitable. snap fasteners. The slide fasteners""engaging the dress provide support for the dress to assure accurate fitting and the replaceable bosom portion provides for many dilferent combinations.

A. woman dressed in the bathing suit according to the present invention has a pants portion 10 covering the crotch section and a brassiere which includes elastic band sections 11 and 12 which overlap and are fastened'together by usual hooks and eyes 13 to adjust to the bust of the wearer and such brassiere includes generally hemispherical transparent breast receiving cups 14 and 15 secured to brassiere portions 17 and 18 by suitable means such as stitching 19 in proper position for receiving the breasts; suitable shoulder straps 20 and 21 may be provided or the brassiere may be completely supported by the rigid cups 14 and 15 and the overlapping bands 11 and 12. A web 22 is secured to the upper portions of the brassiere and is secured to the cups 14 and 15 while another web 23 is secured to the lower portion of the brassiere each carrying one portion of a hookless slide fastener 24 and 25, respectively, which "are adapted to be folded behind the brassiere and therefore are not observable in FIGURE 1.

Where a dress having a body portion 26 and shoulder portion 27 is worn with the brassiere, the dress 'is provided with a zipper extending up the back to provide for application and removal of the garment and the dress is provided with an opening 28 of generally rectangular configuration and such opening is closed with a bosom covering panel 29 adapted to substantially underlap the dress material with the dress material being suitably hemmed to provide a two-ply margin around the opening, but the material is illustrated as being a single ply to simplify the illustration.

Stitched to the margins of the opening 28 in the dress areweb portions 22A at the top and 23A at the bottom with similar web portions stitched to the sidedges of the opening. The cooperating zipper sections 24A and 25A are secured to the webs 22A and 23A with the slide of the zipper serving to positively attach the shoulder portion 27 and the body portion 26 of the dress to the brassiere, thereby providing for elfective support of the complete dress from the brassiere with or without the dress having shoulder portions.

The bosom covering panel 29 is made of a suitable shape to completely close the opening 28 with the marginal sections underlying adjacent portions of the dress and such bosom covering panel is provided With a tuck made by stitching along line 30 to provide a pocket for receiving the breast, while a pleat is formed along lines 31 and 32 to complete the pocket and such panel 29 is secured by snap fasteners S1, S1, at the bottom inside edge and snap fasteners S2, S3 and S4 on the outside along the side edges and top of the panel 29, which snap fasteners cooperate with cooperating snap fasteners S1 secured to the web 23A of the dress while snap fasteners S2, S3 and S4 cooperate with similarly identified snap fasteners on the inner surface of the side and top of the opening 28 on the inner surface of the dress material, such snap fasteners S2 and S3 being attached to the web To enhance the appearance and to conceal the' over-' lapping edges of the opening 28 and the panel 29, a ruffle 33 is secured by suitable stitching 34 around the top,

and side edges of .the opening 28, while the lower edge portion of the opening 28 is maintained in upstanding overlapping relation by securement to the reinforcing web portion along the side of the opening 28 and to the adjacent rufile by stitching 35, the marginal portion 36 at the bottom of the opening being thereby maintained in upstanding smooth condition as illustrated in FIGURE and in FIGURE 5A.

This structure is shown in FIGURE 5A where the reinforcing web 23 overlaps the side reinforcing web 37 and the fastener S2 is secured adjacent said intersection to the reinforcing web 37 with the positions of the fasteners more clearly shown in FIGURE 4 and FIGURE 6.

It will be evident that the cups 14 and 15 may be made of clear transparent plastic or may be made translucent in whole or in part or ornamented to conceal the nipple and the entire dress assembly may be used for all occasions with bosom covering panels of dilferent or contrasting material to obtain the desired efiect.

The cups 14 and 15 are provided with ventilating apertures 40 arranged in a circula pattern to provide for ventilation and such ventilating apertures are substantially invisible in the transparent plastic. The masking of the nipple portion may be accomplished by suitable treatment such as producing a frost-like finish by sanding, sand blasting, etching or the like and it will be evident that varying degrees of transparency and translucency can be provided to obtain the desired effect.

It will be apparent that changes may be made in the construction within the spirit of the invention as defined by the valid scope of the claims.

Whatis claimed is: e

1. A garment structure comprising a brassiere having a. pair of generally hemispherical breast receiving cups and means to support the brassiere on a person, an outer garment for covering a person and having an opening for the bosom portion of the brassiere, fastener elements along the upper and lower edges of the brassiere, cooperating fastener elements along the upper and lower edges of the bosom receiving opening of the outer garment for securing the outer garment to the brassiere, a removable panel to close the bosom receiving opening in the garment to conceal the bosom portion of the brassiere, and means to attach the removable panel to the garment.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which the fastener elements are slide fasteners.

3. The invention according to claim 1 in which the cups are transparent.

4. The invention according to claim 1 in which a reinforcing web is provided around the bosom receiving opening in the garment.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,436,977 3/1948 Stevens 128461 2,531,994 11/1950 Stain 128-456 2,579,365 12/1951 Conde 128-463 2,599,302 6/1952 Von Thaden 128-456 2,614,257 10/1952 Kramer et al. 128-454 2,671,218 3/1954 Luhr 128-454 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner 

